IL-17A, a possible biomarker for the evaluation of treatment response in Trypanosoma cruzi infected children: A 12-months follow-up study in Bolivia.

Background: The National Program for Chagas disease was implemented in Bolivia in 2006, and it greatly decreased the number of infections through vector control. Subsequently, a treatment regimen of benznidazole (BNZ) was started in seropositive school-age children living in certified vector control areas.

Methods And Findings: We conducted a 12-month follow-up study and seven blood samples were taken during and after the treatment.

Analytical Validation of Quantitative Real-Time PCR Methods for Quantification of Trypanosoma cruzi DNA in Blood Samples from Chagas Disease Patients.

An international study was performed by 26 experienced PCR laboratories from 14 countries to assess the performance of duplex quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) strategies on the basis of TaqMan probes for detection and quantification of parasitic loads in peripheral blood samples from Chagas disease patients. Two methods were studied: Satellite DNA (SatDNA) qPCR and kinetoplastid DNA (kDNA) qPCR. Both methods included an internal amplification control.

Diagnosis of congenital Trypanosoma cruzi infection: A serologic test using Shed Acute Phase Antigen (SAPA) in mother-child binomial samples.

Chagas congenital infection is an important health problem in endemic and non-endemic areas in which Trypanosoma cruzi-infected women can transmit the parasite to their offspring. In this study, we evaluated the antibody levels against the T. cruzi Shed Acute Phase Antigen (SAPA) in 91 binomial samples of seropositive pregnant women and their infected and non-infected children by ELISA.

DNA methylation-mediated silencing of PU.1 in leukemia cells resistant to cell differentiation.

In mice, the proviral integration of the Friend Spleen Focus Forming Virus (SFFV) within the PU.1 locus of erythroid precursors results in the development of erythroleukemia. SFFV integrates several kilobases upstream of the PU.

Trypanosoma cruzi lineages detected in congenitally infected infants and Triatoma infestans from the same disease-endemic region under entomologic surveillance in Paraguay.

Trypanosoma cruzi II is associated with Chagas disease in the southern part of South America. We analyzed T. cruzi variants in field-collected triatomines and congenitally infected infants living in the same disease-endemic region in Paraguay.

Early diagnosis of congenital Trypanosoma cruzi infection, using shed acute phase antigen, in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.

Chagas' disease, or American trypanosomiasis, is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanasoma cruzi. It is estimated that 15,000 new cases of congenital T. cruzi transmission occur in the Americas each year.

[Implementation and evaluation of a locally sustainable system of prenatal diagnosis to detect cases of congenital Chagas disease in endemic areas of Paraguay].

A locally sustainable system of prenatal screening of Trypanosoma cruzi infection has been implemented in rural health care centers of endemic areas in Paraguay A total of 61.091 women from Paraguari and Cordillera Departments were serologically evaluated, where 7.802 (12,7%) resulted to be anti-T.